Affluenza, a portmanteau of affluence and influenza, is a term used by critics of consumerism. The book, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, defines it as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more".
A potential criticism of the idea of affluenza is that it presents subjective social critique as an objective, inevitable and debilitating illness.
British psychologist Oliver James asserts that there is a correlation between the increasing nature of affluenza and the resulting increase in material inequality: the more unequal a society, the greater the unhappiness of its citizens. Referring to Vance Packard's thesis The Hidden Persuaders on the manipulativemethods used by the advertising industry, James relates the stimulation of artificial needs to the rise in affluenza.
Texas teenager Ethan Couch avoided spending more than 20 years in prison he killed four people and seriously injured two others while drunk behind the wheel.
Couch's defence team argued that the wealthy 16-year-old suffers from "affluenza" and therefore had no ability to rationalise the connections between his behaviour and its consequences because his parents had never taught him right from wrong.
Couch was sentenced to 10 years probation.
"From ENTITLED BRAT to CONTRIBUTING LEADER" fosters the essentials of honest communication, mutual trust and shared values that enable families to collaborate effectively… creating a powerful set of values and behaviours that will be a truly lasting legacy of wealth and happiness.